Archive | Old Things

Yesterday the last nail was put in place and the boys’ room is officially finished.

One room down, one room (nursery) to go.

While I love rearranging rooms and getting everything just right, it feels so good to be DONE.

In case you didn’t read about it last week, we moved the boys in a room together last weekend. We moved them into the old nursery (both Moseby and Lawson used this room as their nursery for their first two years; Moseby moved into another bedroom before Lawson came along) and Moseby’s old room is becoming the new nursery. That’s not confusing, is it? HA!

This is only their make-do room for the next two years or so until we do renovation 2.0 with the house and then this will become MM’s room (it has a kitchenette connected to it–can’t see the door in any of these pictures–that we will convert into a private bath for her; our house was a boarding house, remember?) and the boys will move across the hall to our master bedroom (and we’ll move downstairs). The baby will move into MM’s old room and its room will become a study nook. Gosh, that makes me tired just writing it!

It’s not exactly laid out how I wanted–the radiator beside Momo’s bed made us push the beds off-center from the window (which kinda makes my eye twitch) and you’ll spy a chandelier in some of the pictures that we didn’t change out because it will become MM’s room before we know it and it seemed silly just to take it down for a couple of years.

Anyway. Enough of all that.

So the details:

~The beds are old hospital beds that we bought a few years ago at a local antiques store that came from a local hospital (that my mom was born in actually). I’m guessing they’re from the 30s or 40s.

~The bedding is from Target and cheap (and was an extra 20% off a couple of months ago) because I can only imagine what those boys will put it through!

“Play” containers found at At Home (similar here). Vintage school chart found on Etsy (similar here.)

~I got the nightstand/chest of drawers/whatever last week at a local antiques market because we need all the storage we can get! I “measured” with my hands before I went to the store and I would like to brag that the chest was the perfect size (with not an inch to spare). #skillz

Flying pig lamp from At Home (similar here) and is Moseby’s most favoritest thing in the whole wide world. Picture frames from Hobby Lobby (similar here).

~It’s “fun” (insert eye roll) to get to decorate a mantle in almost every room (we have six mantles in our house!).

~Moseby has had this little tool bench for a few years now and didn’t want to part with it just yet so we made a little tool/car corner.

~And he also had a bunch of “treasures” he wanted to keep away from Lala (a pirate piggy bank, a special flashlight (he’s scared of the dark), his favorite book, a drawing his birth mom made him, his soccer trophy, etc.) so we put them in special container that Lawson is not allowed to touch. He also chose some “special” trinkets to put in the vintage printer’s tray (similar here)–his choices (a bow tie, some Canadian coins, a small armadillo, a Mickey Mouse figurine, etc.) crack me up.

~Their dresser that yes, is girly, but I didn’t feel like moving in Moseby’s old one for a two year stint, just keeping it real.

I tried to include pictures of the two of them all around the room (board found at Hobby Lobby). Just look at these two cute little boys!

~The last little space I’ll show you is behind their door. I didn’t realize until they moved in together just how many hats these two had! So this was a last minute addition, but probably my favorite little corner!

And that’s the boys’ room! Hopefully in a week (or so) I’ll have the nursery finished (I’m feeling the nesting bug kicking into high gear the last couple of weeks ago–I am 32 weeks along today actually!) and can share that with you too!

Woah, this week has been a doozie! From gets trying to get into a school routine (yes, you DO have to get up every day and go to school whether you want to or not, Moseby!), to two curriculum nights on two different days, to OB appointments and toddler checkups and two sick appointments (go away, school germs!), and MM starting tap again.

Man, I’m tired just thinking about our week.

Excuse me while I go take a nap.

Here’s a few pictures from this crazy week, no rhyme or reason really.

First up: I don’t think I have shown y’all my new-ish custom painting from Mary Pratt, have I? Back in the spring I saw some nest paintings she was working on and fell in love (I also have a large bird painting by her from a few years ago in our foyer) so I asked her about making it a specific size to go over our living room mantle. She worked on it this summer and we hung it a few weeks ago. And I’m in L-O-V-E. Happy Mother’s Day/anniversary/birthday/Christmas to me! (You can see her work that’s currently available here, by the way!)

Next up, I’ve been in a creating mood myself–I always do this when I’m pregnant. It’s like my version of nesting (’cause I don’t have the cleaning gene). This week I’ve been working on this little 4″ by 4″ cross stitch piece for the wall above the dresser. I purchased the pattern because it didn’t look difficult, but there’s like 20 shades of yellow alone and I’m going a bit cross-eyed with it. Pattern can be found here. Hopefully I’ll be able to show it to you finished and framed in the next couple of weeks because we plan on moving the boys in their new room together in early September and getting the nursery ready at the end of September/early October.

Speaking of the baby (and another thing I’m working on/creating, HA!), guess who is about to be in their THIRD TRIMESTER in three days?! Uhmmmmm, it’s getting real, folks. Baby is measuring big like it has from the beginning and on Monday it weighed 2 pounds, 4 ounces and was 15″ long. I still can’t believe there’s an actual baby in there!

And this really has nothing do with anything so far, I just think he’s cute. 😉

{This is him at his two year well checkup this week. I wear him in the Tula when he gets his shots and he doesn’t cry. Not sure if it’s because he’s tough or the Tula is magical.}

And that’s all I got for you today. Hope you all have a great weekend. We’re going to spend ours nursing these sickies back to health–lots of sleep and some couch cuddles and relaxing. Sounds about perfect to me!

As of late last week the dining room was officially finished. Yes, we’ve been working on it since early March (paint colors can be found in that post if you’re interested), but it’s not like it was a construction zone or something–I’ve just been lazy about putting the finishing touches on it. My daddy hung the mirrors (got them at an estate sale last year and just have been hanging on to them since) last week and I’m considering the room finished now.

My biggest conundrum with our dining room was the furniture. I love it because it’s C.’s great-grandparents (well, the china cabinet we bought at a local antiques store and it’s a pretty close match), but it’s dark. And I can’t paint it because it’s a family heirloom. And the doors in here have their original (dark) stain and as C. (affectionally, of course, HA!) says I’m a “preservation nazi” I just can’t paint them either.

So I decided to leave it as it were, but change the rest of the room–the walls, the fireplace paint, the rug, the drapes, and some of the chairs.

And y’all, it’s a drastic change!

I replaced all the chairs except the end armchairs–they’re next on my list. I’m not necessarily a fan of the bench (and was going to return it), but all three kids want to sit on it together every meal…and how could I return THAT?!

The drapes took the longest to find. Only because the sweet seamstress that did all the rooms in our house when we restored it has since retired. And I cannot find someone as talented, or reasonable, as Miss June. I finally found Sanya who is just starting out on Etsy who would make some custom pinch pleat drapes for me. I sent her the trim (on Monday when I went scouting for fabric it was $14/yard, when I went back to get it on Thursday I got a remnant–7.25 yards (just what I needed) for $10. It was meant to be) and she had the drapes ready in a couple of weeks and sent them back to me.

{The china (transferware actually) displayed throughout the room is by Grindley and the pattern is called ‘Malta’. It’s from 1887 and I collect it one piece at a time off eBay. My Mama Grace gave me my first piece in high school–a ginger jar–that had been passed down through her family. The other old things you see in this post I find at antiques markets (Scotts in Atlanta) or Queen of Hearts antiques mall or on eBay.}

This is what this room looked like when we bought the house in 2007. It was a guest room (like four out of the five bedrooms were then) and hadn’t been lived in since the 1960s when the boarding house closed and Ms. Eleanor {the lady we bought the home from (and whose parents had purchased the home in 1917) and who we named MM after} lived here alone.

In this room we did extensive plaster repair, scraped & painted the ceilings (they were more of a mess upstairs than downstairs because there was no heat or air conditioning (and subsequent temperature extremes) had left long strips of paint hanging from the ceiling) and removed the carpet and refinished the floors. This is what the room looked like after we moved in (I couldn’t really find any recent pictures, but we had a difference duvet).

And this was my inspiration picture. I loved all the neutrals (and the ceiling is wood like ours (we have heart pine tongue and groove ceilings throughout our house)).

Here’s some more pictures and then I’ll talk sources and stuff at the end.

We have an awkward-shaped bedroom. As soon as you come in the door the fireplace kind of juts out on the right. There’s also two doors, a double window, and a radiator. Oh, and it’s only medium-sized at best, haha.

This is the only picture I have of our antique oak armoire {bought at an auction a few years ago} that holds 99% of all our folded clothes.

Random fact: our house had a fire in 1927 and it started when two boarders came home late one night and started a fire in this fireplace. A coal popped out on a rug a bit later and started a fire that destroyed the second floor. The fireplace surrounds up here are original, but I’m thinking the mantles are new. The floors are heart pine up here and new (‘new’ meaning 90 years old, haha).

The only new furniture purchased for the redo was the bed and mattress. Everything else was already in the room or used somewhere else in the house.

My three babies.

Gosh, y’all, look at that bed. Don’t you just want to crawl in it and sleep forever? It is heavenly.

And look at those two babies (babies, I tell you!) in their first picture together. We were both 23.

(And I totally didn’t pose C.’s slippers like that–I didn’t realize they were even there until just now–they match too well!)

Okay, so sources. I’ll do my best.

Paint: Walls are ‘Quiet Moments’ by Benjamin Moore

Trim, plantation shutters, and ceiling (trim is semi-gloss and ceiling is high-gloss and plantation shutters were sprayed, but not sure what finish as we didn’t do them): ‘Swiss Coffee’ by Behr

Stain on the floor: ‘Early American’ by Minwax (which shows up very light on these heart pine floors verses our tiger oak floors downstairs, by the way)

We are in that “holding pattern” time before a birth…you know, that antsy time when there are contractions, and backaches, and other things that point to a baby. But no baby yet.

So, to keep our mind off of it {though my cell phone is attached at my hip at all times…because we could get!the!call!anytime!} I thought I’d take some pictures of the nursery while it was semi-clean and put together.

{The paint is “Turtle Dove” by Behr and the trim is like the rest of the house, “Swiss Coffee”, by the way.}

MM says, ‘Welcome to my brother’s bedroom!’

The chifferobe I found at a local antiques store for $85. My dad painted it a medium gray and I replaced the knobs with ones I got for 50% at Hobby Lobby. The lamp was left with the house. The wire basket on the floor I got years ago at Lakewood and is filled with all handmade blankets, including three quilts by my birth mother that she made for her newest grandson.

The sleigh crib is from Pottery Barn. Mom got it second-hand on Craigs List in 2008 for MM. I had the crib bumper made back in the summer from Etsy. The dust ruffle I made myself {and honestly, I don’t like the color–the linen looked green in the store, but now looks brownish, blah.} The horse print is a large flashcard from the 1950s that I had framed. And that little stool? MM put it there so she’ll be able to check on her baby brother whenever she wants.

For now the crib houses her baby.

The chandelier came out of C.’s parents’ house when they redid it last year. I had it installed on a dimmer switch and I love that I can make the room really bright or pretty dim. The drapes are made from Amy Butler’s ‘August Fields’ line and my mom had them made for the nursery. The rug was a $60 find {which is a steal for a rug that big} from Urban Outfitters.

The vintage ‘Baby Foods’ sign came off ebay for $15. The frame with the dress thing I saw on Pinterest. The gown is C.’s mother’s. I wish I had gotten the frame {which I got for 50% off at Hobby Lobby} just a little bit bigger. It irks me that the gown hangs over the bottom of it.

The rocker came with our home {and was part of MM’s nursery} and the little table we painted with camo-colored flat spray paint. It’s got a little vintage alabaster lamp with a burlap shade, my dad’s baby rattle and piggy bank, and old family photos.

The mantle in the room holds lots of special meanings. Citrus fruit, a map of our state, cotton picked from the side of the road–all will mean something to our little guy one day and we can’t to tell him all about them and his birth family. The chairs we found int he basement.

The dress was bought at a local antiques market back in ’07. It fit our changing pad and diaper storage perfectly. Hanging on the wall is a drawer from a vintage printers cabinet.

The diaper storage is an old GCC crate. The wicker hamper is not as sturdy as I would like so I need to figure out a way to make it stronger so I can use it.

But don’t be fooled by those disposables diaper in the above pictures–we plan on cloth diapering {after the umbilical cord stump falls off and for naps/nights at first}. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of posts about THAT in the upcoming weeks!

And even though this doesn’t have anything to do with the room tour I had to show you this little book MM picked out for her baby brother…before we even knew about him. She saw this book in October and had a FIT to get her for Moseby. And boy, am I glad we did.

And since I try to keep it real here…while I was taking pictures C. decided to clean out our closet {I’m apparently not the only one nesting} and this is what was in our hallway. It took five trash bags for the hangers alone. UH-HUH.

I found a few pictures this week of a little girl, some eighty years ago, taken on our street.

That bob haircut. That smile. Those sparkling eyes. That teddy bear. Something about them was so familiar, you know?

I found this lovely little vintage frock {for $12!} from the 1930s on Etsy, the bracelet my mom got as a gift in the first grade. And something about those little things on my old soul of a daughter just took me back to a different time–I could almost hear the train pulling up to the depot right down the street, the sounds of hooves from the horses bringing in the cotton to sell, the laughter of children playing. Almost.

My silly clogging girl {oh yes, she begins clogging lessons in two weeks–and she loves to show off her moves!}

In case the last post wasn’t random enough, here’s another one…with pictures. And I’ve got everything from Father’s Day to ants to cabbage and settees {and then some}. Hold on to your hats, folks, this could be a long one.

Remember back in April how we bought a Victorian-era settee in Charlotte? It was a good deal and we figured out why pretty quick–all the stuffing {a mix of straw, cotton, & horse hair} was coming out of the seat.

But I loved the rest of the “leather” {I call it leather, but I don’t think it is…it feels more like painted canvas almost}–especially the rosettes–so it took a while to find an upholsterer who would tackle the project AND who would fit in our teeny-tiny budget. We persevered and finally found someone to do it & the turnaround was only 36 hours. Can’t beat that.

It’s sitting awkwardly in the parlor right now while I try to find the right place for it and the right side table. It sits so low to the ground that it’s kinda hard to make it work.

And a certain someone wanted to get her picture made with it. Notice the Barney shirt? Oh yeah, we’re still ga-ga for that dinosaur over here.

The fabric is by Tula Pink and is part of their ‘Parisville’ line. It’s currently my favorite fabric and goes with our rug perfectly.

And I have big dreams for this little settee too. I want to have our baby’s newborn portraits on it. I can just picture it sitting under our giant pecan tree in the backyard with a tiny baby curled up on it asleep. I.can’t.wait.

That’s ants, y’all. Billions of ants and their tiny eggs. Needless to say I grilled those steaks on our stove instead of the grill. Right before we sat down we heard what sounded like a train {and believe me, we know what trains sound like–we live within spittin’ distance of the tracks} coming through our house. We ran outside and out of nowhere there was a HUGE thunderstorm with crazy winds. It took down many gorgeous old trees in our downtown {and a top of one of ours in the backyard…it blocked the side street next to our carriage house for about an hour ’til the city came and moved it} and since we left the cover off the grill, it also washed away all the ants. Score!

Later MM and I were watering the ferns and what did we spy, but a nest and two perfectly speckled eggs {the nest had been abadoned about a week ago}. She was enthralled. It took every bit of willpower she had not to pick up those little eggs and just squeeze ’em to death with love.

Yesterday was my cousin’s 27th birthday. They threw her a surprise party and MM wore her party dress.

And when we got there she got to wear a tiara, sash, and hold a wand while talking to Aunt Jessie about lip gloss and perfume. And staying up past 9. Oh yes, she had fun {and we’ve been paying for it with a cranky toddler today, ha!}. Happy birthday, Jessica–we love you {MM thinks you’re all that and a bag of chips} and we can’t wait for you to be the godmother of our baby!

The only picture I snapped of these two on Father’s Day. It was super muggy today–dare say, the worst day yet–and even though this was 10am and before church we were all sweating profusely.

Just so you know, we really do holidays up over here at our house. We celebrated Da-Da today with a grand lunch of chicken fingers with a picnic {in our pajamas} on the living room floor. Oh yeah, we do it in style!

C., of course, says he wouldn’t have it any other way–he’s a good daddy like that.

This afternoon we took down the bed in the new nursery. As we were doing so MM begged to “sleep” in her old crib that we had moved into that room. She said several times, ‘This my crib–not “Henwy’s” or “M-Yine’s” crib, but I share.’ I just hope she does–since I never had a sibling I don’t get the whole sibling rivalry-jealousy thing and I just pray that I can teach them to love and respect each other. Starting with sharing her crib.

So there you go, our scattered life in pictures. I’m going to try and take some pictures of canning our green tomato relish this week {…and blackberry preserves…and pickles…and possibly more blueberry jam…} and our trip to the Georgia Aquarium with Aunt Jen-Jen.

Happy Father’s Day to all those dads out there. Any man can be a father, but it takes a special one to be a dad. And boy, do I have a great dad and so does my little girl.

Hey y’all, come on over to Blue Eyed Yonder and say hello. I guest posted there today about our latest antiques hunting spree in Charlotte earlier this month. And there were some good finds. Head on over to Krista’s and say hello and check out the pics.

There are a few things wandering around this jumbled head of mine tonight. In no particular order…

Today I spent MM’s nap time making her a custom Barney outfit for the big concert we’re attending next Thursday. Have I not mentioned it? Mom got us floor seats at Phillips Arena to see Barney’s Birthday Bash. My little girl is soooooo excited about this–Barney is hands-down her favorite TV show and he is her hero. I made her an appliqued Barney shirt and coordinating double ruffle pants. Pictures coming for sure.

We’re meeting with an adoption attorney tomorrow to get a feel for the private side of adoption and to determine if we’re going to go that route. Also, we found out our third {and final!} home study meeting will be on April 17th. It’s the big home inspection visit and we’ve got a lot of things to do to get ready–like hello, paint the front porch that has needed painting for the last 3.5 years!–but we are so ready for this part to be finished so we can move on with the process.

Speaking of cleaning and organizing, I organized all our paperwork this week. This may not sound like a big deal, but I can assure you it was to me. It took me four hours, six binders, and two-hundred page protectors, but I now can put my finger on any tax return or closing document or birthday card from the last six years. Next up? Our closet. It should be afraid, very afraid.

Plans began in full-swing this week for MM’s spring fling second birthday party for the end of April. It’s a farm theme Easter egg hunt. Oh my.

MM has learned all the words to ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’ prayer and recites them all on her very own each night before bed. Melts my heart into a pile of goo, let me tell you.

And last, but definitely not least since it’s all I can think about, but this Saturday we’re going to the Metrolina Antiques Market in Charlotte. At the top of our list is finding a chifferobe for the nursery {which, believe me, a necessity in an old closet-less house} and, well, any other do-dads that catch my eye. Perhaps vintage toys?

Before I get started I just have to say ‘thank you’ for all the sweet messages and 50+ (!) Facebook posts. Several people mentioned how lucky our baby would be to get us as a family and that struck me as odd…I had never thought of that! All I can think about is how lucky WE are going to be. Isn’t that strange? But, you’re right, we will all be blessed when we’re matched. Most definitely.

And for those who like updates on this sort of thing–we’ve sent all the preliminary forms and fees and the next step is a meeting and then the homestudy. We have decided to use Covenant Care as our agency as a dear friend of mine adopted her two children from there. After the homestudy is approved and more fees are paid our profile and birth mother letter will me ready to view! And then it’s a waiting game because unlike when I was adopted they don’t just give a baby to the next person in line. Today the birth mother gets to pick the parents so we could wait hours…or years. We’re cool with that and all, but in the back of mind I can’t help but think about how I’m a perfect match for my parents even though my birth mother knew nothing about them. Yes, God works in a mysterious ways.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled program.

Stairwell {also known as “The Shrine to Mary Margaret”}.

Lately it has been very dreary in Georgia. Overcast, misty, cold…dare say even snow! And it makes our old house oh-so-dark. It doesn’t help that we have over half the rooms closed off {we have so much unused space that we close it off to save on heating costs…another post for another day} and there is no light streaming from one room to the next.

Kitchen table in silhouette.

And I’m not going to lie, mid-last week I was so so so SO tired of the darkness of it all I was seriously considering taking a sledge hammer to my living room wall. I NEED LIGHT! was all I could think about.

Candlesticks on bedroom mantle.

Now what’s funny about all this is that we have two or more windows in every room except two–that’s a lot. But with the big trees and the closed off rooms and the overcast days…well, I was getting a wee bit crazy.

Dining room mantle’s mirror.

Thankfully Saturday and Sunday provided a much-needed reprieve with temperatures in the 70s and oh-so-sunny.

Shaving mirror.

{And no, I’m not going to talk about how Monday morning I work up to dreary skies and highs in the 40s. No.I.Will.Not.}

Coffee urn spout.

So I did what any normal person would do…I ran around taking pictures of sunlight! You know, just in case the sun was never going to come out again {hey, it could happen!}.

Rocker shadow.

And these pictures make me smile. They make me happy. They give me hope that spring and sunshine and gardenias will be here before I know it. Praise the Lord!

A century-and-a-half-year old door knob.

C.’s sink.

Snapshots on a nightstand.

But…if you don’t hear from me soon you might want to send a search party over to my house because I just checked the forecast and my worst fear has come true: another week of cold dark dampness. Fabulous. Just fabulous.